Governor Riley was in Huntsville Wednesday afternoon updating leaders on the state of our state… namely how we’re dealing with the oil spill.He said he believes Alabama leaders could have stopped the oil from lapping onto our shores, if only they had the tools from the start.“Can we protect our shores?” Governor Riley asked. “Sure you can, but you can’t do it with the situation that you have down there today.”Riley says there are about 20 federal agencies that have veto power, and they all have their hand in the decisions to clean up the spill; that creates gridlock, so nothing gets done.“If this is going to affect a turtle, you can’t do it. If this is going to affect a person’s ability to work in hot conditions, you can’t do it,” Riley mimicked the agency officials.The Governor says there was a boom in Alabama that would have protected the 25 miles of coastline from the oil, but he says government leaders moved it to Louisiana, saying that state needed it worse. Then, the plan was to put up a snare boom across the beach.“Sounded like a plan to me until Fish and Wildlife said, ‘Nope. You can’t do that because it’ll catch turtles in the net,'” said Riley.So, then the plan changed, and 400 workers would be hired to clean the beach.“Sounded great right up until OSHA said, ‘Nope. It’s too hot for ‘em to work.’ So, now they’re limited to working no more than 20 minutes out of the hour or a maximum of two hours a day,” said Riley.

What is perhaps the world’s worst environmental disaster in history can now be laid squarely at this President’s feet. He may not have started it, but his government has helped spread it.

Mr. President, please get your bureaucracy out of the way and let real men and women clean up the mess you helped create.